Volume 4, Issue 2,
October 2005

Looking beyond routine explanations of the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe,
this paper examines mainstream understandings of Southern African politics and
the language that produces them. It uses historical sociology to offer an alternative
explanation of the development of the region and highlights the overlapping sources
of authority that predated the state system. Drawing on the insightful poetry of
Douglas Livingstone (and his own peregrinations in the region), the argument
suggests that instead of an ontology based on state boundaries the region should be
considered a 'littoral zone' in which authority and control move back and forth
between different social bundles. Imaginative interpretations, rather than the 'weasel
words' cult democracy, could help secure rights in Zimbabwe.

Since 2000 elections in Zimbabwe have been characterised by bitter struggles, mainly
between the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF), and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In
the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential elections these struggles
became so violent that lives were lost on both sides, with the protagonists blaming
each other for instigating the violence. Real and imagined violence became the
language with which even the international community, especially the media,
articulated the Zimbabwean crisis at the expense of other equally problematic issues
such as the land question, the constitutional debate, economic and personal sanctions,
drought and hunger, and poor political decisions by major players on both sides of
the political divide. This paper argues that the violent character of the Zimbabwean
crisis is a result of a general mood of bitterness that had been building up for decades
prior to the current crisis. That mood is traceable to the brutality of the liberation
struggle and the bitterness continued in the early 1980s with the Matebeleland
crisis, whose violent suppression raised bitter ethnic questions. The mood continued
to thicken with the militarisation of Zimbabwean politics when the war veterans
entered the political fray especially after the February 2000 constitutional reform
referendum. Although Zimbabwe has had a multi-party system since 1980, the real
contribution of past political parties, civil society and the international community
in Zimbabwe's democratic experiment has been lost in the rhetoric of violence of the
last five years. The general mood of bitterness has made it impossible even for wellmeaning
religious groups and concerned governments of neighbouring countries
to negotiate a compromise political solution. Sections of the international media,
human rights organisations and some Western diplomats, rather than helping to
tone down the bitterness have increased tensions by employing the rhetoric of
violence, even in the elections of March 2005, long after the conflicting parties had
expressly and demonstrably abandoned violence.

One hundred and fifteen years ago the Pioneer Column hoisted the Union Jack in
Salisbury and took possession of all unoccupied land in the name of Queen Victoria,
an act of conquest which ushered in close to 100 years of colonial domination of the
people of the land by the British. Accordingly, access to and ownership of land has
been an intrinsic part of the political discourse in Zimbabwe. Prior to independence
land was a key driver of political change. This paper examines the key milestones of
Zimbabwe's land reform process over the years to demonstrate how, during the
post-independence era and culminating in the 2005 parliamentary elections, land
has continued to have significant value with respect to political dominance and
capital.

Parties play a crucial role in elections for they reflect the configuration of political
power in the contestation for state control. Political parties constitute an important
medium for citizens' participation in the political process during and between
elections. How have parties fared in the context of the Zimbabwe political situation,
in particular during the 2005 elections? Although the 2005 elections were as tightly
contested as those of 2000 and 2002, there was a remarkable difference between
them. The environment during the campaign of 2005 was peaceful, compared with
the political violence and mayhem that accompanied the 2000 and 2002 elections.
A new element built into the framework of the election campaign was the SADC
Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, a framework with which
SADC member states were enjoined to comply. Another significant factor was the
Zimbabwe Government's strategy of restricting the number and variety of observer
missions that would be allowed to witness the election. This paper will not attempt
to assess the 2005 election process as a whole but will concentrate on the role of
political parties in the contest. Significantly, a major difference from previous
elections was the reduction in the number of parties that contested the elections.

The political and legal framework governing the 2005 parliamentary elections played a significant role in determining the freeness and fairness of the elections. The
repressive legislation and partisan institutions put in place to govern the previous
two elections were perpetuated, with new names, new personalities and invigorated
allegiance to the ruling party. The continued use of repressive institutions and
legislation appears to stem from the ruling party's insecurity and its desire to
maintain its hegemonic position. The establishment of the SADC Principles and
Guidelines Governing the Conduct of Democratic Elections was both a timely and
welcome development for civil society organisations and human rights activists.
The government of Zimbabwe responded by selectively applying critical tenets of
the guidelines. Undoubtedly there was a relative reduction in state-organised violence
but repressive legislation designed to favour the ruling party was not dismantled.
New but partisan electoral bodies were appointed to manage the elections and there
was rampant and excessive executive interference in the operations of the electoral
bodies. As a result the manner in which the delimitation process was conducted
compromised the electoral result. The media were biased throughout the campaign
period, only improving a few days before the poll. The voters' roll was a shambles,
with names duplicated or omitted and including the names of deceased or nonexistent
voters The announcement of the results in the absence of political party
representatives raised suspicions about their validity. Civil society organisations
and opposition political parties dismissed as a fraud an election that must be
characterised as flawed - it was free but not fair.

This paper examines the 2005 elections in Zimbabwe in the context of persistent
gender inequalities that have existed since 1980. These inequalities have been
exacerbated by an entrenched patriarchal culture and an electoral system that neither
facilitates nor adds value to the increased representation and participation of women.
The 31 March 2005 parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe were held amid profound
struggles and disagreements over how best to change the formal political machinery.
At the same time, struggles by the opposition to broaden and deepen political,
economic and civil rights had intensified. Within this same struggle for
democratisation the women's movement has defined itself by a liberal human rightsbased
agenda and has waged the struggle at two levels. The first is the level of a
feminist consciousness, where women have fought a war against patriarchy since
1980, through a critique of discriminatory legislation and demands for committed
measures to increase women's political representation. The second is at the
oppositional level, where some women's groups in alliance with other civil society
organisations and opposition political parties have challenged the state and the
legitimacy of the ZANU-PF rulers and the lack of a free participatory environment.
A reflection on the results of the 2005 elections shows that women have not won
these two battles. Patriarchy still remains entrenched in political institutions and
political parties. A culture that uncritically accepts the need for women as political
leaders does not exist. The under representation of women in Zimbabwe has been so
stark since 1980 that the injustice seems beyond question. When women occupy a
mere 16 per cent of the seats in Parliament, it should be clear that there is something
unsatisfactory in the current political arrangements or in the electoral system.

What explains the re-emergence of the National Youth Service / Militia, launched in
Zimbabwe in August 2001? This paper argues that, amid the intense political
struggle between the ruling party and a largely worker- and urban-society-based
political opposition, there was an urgent need to have in place a cheap and available
institution that could be relied upon both to toe the party line religiously and to
execute state supported extra-legal activities, including violence. The institution,
drawn from the country's earlier political history, was the Zimbabwe Peoples' Militia,
now reincarnated as the National Youth Service (NYS). This assertion is supported
by the role and function of the NYS, deployed to 'police' the results of Operation
Murambatsvina, the forced removal of the poor from the country's urban centres,
which has been universally condemned, even by the African Union. However, if
this analysis is correct, post-crisis Zimbabwe will be faced with the challenge of
having to put down the NYS, a situation similar to what happened in Malawi,
towards the end of the reign of the late Malawian President, Kamuzu Banda, and
his Young Pioneers.

The paper analyses the theoretical and practical weaknesses of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition political party in Zimbabwe. To
do justice to its struggle for political power, the MDC must wage a decisive war
against these weaknesses, which are among the key reasons why it lost the March
2005 parliamentary elections and are important challenges it is facing in its struggle
to defeat the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-
PF). In focusing on these weaknesses the paper makes extensive use of the literature
produced by critics of the ruling party. The paper maintains that the MDC has not
recognised either in theory or in practice the strategic importance of mobilising for
political, economic and ideological hegemony and has failed to provide comprehensive
theoretical and practical alternatives to the ruling party as prerequisites for the
realisation of its aim to replace it. As a result, the paper concludes, the MDC faces
the danger of being reduced to exerting pressure upon the state of Zimbabwe and
other Southern African countries for policy changes and victories which will not be
sufficient for it either to achieve political power or to consolidate or expand these
changes and victories.

Extracted from text ... JOURNAL OF AFRICAN ELECTIONS 142
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REVIEW
Zimbabwe: Injustice and Political Reconciliation
Brian Raftopoulous and Tyrone Savage (eds)
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
INTRODUCTION
The book consists of 15 chapters written by academics and professionals who have
written widely on Zimbabwe. Most of them are either Zimbabwean citizens or
have been involved in Zimbabwe in their professional careers. Their previous work
on Zimbabwe gives their interpretation of the situation more weight. Brian
Raftopoulos, who sets the tone of the book, attributes the current problems in
Zimbabwe to a reconciliation policy that was a compromise between the liberation
movement, the colonial ..